


Accidental Horrors

by foolyoulove



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, Gen, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Missing Scene, One Shot, Pepper Potts is not flawless, but I am so tired of people saying she's a horrible person for leaving the room, nightmare aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foolyoulove/pseuds/foolyoulove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Pepper wasn't sure what felt worse--the terror still coursing through her veins, or the sense of betrayal.  <i>'I am Iron Man.  The suit and I are one.'</i>  How was she supposed to reconcile Tony's self-professed symbiosis with his technology with what had just happened in the bedroom?  <i>Their</i> bedroom?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accidental Horrors

**Author's Note:**

> The nightmare scene in the movie made my heart ache for both Tony and Pepper so much. I had to get some feelings out.

"Tinker with _that._ "

Time and perspective might eventually give her some guilt over the harshness of her words, but Pepper had to focus on escaping the immediate situation. As she shakily grabbed a throw from a linen closet on her way to the living room, she wasn't sure what felt worse--the terror still coursing through her veins, or the sense of betrayal.  _"I am Iron Man.  The suit and I are one."_   How was she supposed to reconcile Tony's self-professed symbiosis with his technology with what had just happened in the bedroom?  _Their_ bedroom? She even felt abandoned by JARVIS.  How could the most advanced AI in the world--to whom her level of access was second only to his creator--not recognize that she wasn't a threat, let alone not intervene on her behalf? She wanted to ask him, but in that moment, she had very little interest in conversing with anyone, particularly not a machine.

Pepper extended her legs along the couch, but sat stiffly, with the lights on, her guard up, and the blanket providing absolutely no sense of security.  When her adrenaline rush started to subside, Pepper questioned her own logic in moving to a point in the house that was _closer_ to the garage and any other accidental horrors that Tony might have cooked up during a tech bender, but that line of thinking was interrupted when she heard his footsteps heading in her direction. She didn't know if she should anticipate pleading, soul-baring, rationalizing, confrontation… it seemed she had very little idea what to expect from Tony these days.

Of course she had noticed that things were different since New York.  Of course she had noticed that most nights she went to bed alone and woke up alone.  But it wasn't until earlier that evening that she had finally realized--or more likely, that Tony had finally allowed her to see--just how much he was teetering on the edge.  It had been all too easy to revel in the immediate joy of his physical survival of the battle and the wormhole, to assume that he was just sleeping during the day while she was at work, to not talk about about near-death and missed phone calls and nightmares.  

It turned out that no words at all were exchanged as Tony passed through the room, heading directly, albeit dazedly, toward the shop; Pepper winced as he grazed the wall, barely making the turn at the top of the stairs.  She didn't know how to protect him from aliens, gods, or even flesh-and-bone human terrorists.  But, as she watched him disappear below deck, ordering JARVIS to prepare to recalibrate the Mark 42 sensors again, she hoped that she would be able to help save Tony from himself.

**Author's Note:**

> I know there's been hate on Pepper for leaving the room after the nightmare/suit incident. How would you have reacted if you'd just been pinned to your own bed by what is, in essence, the most advanced weapon in the world? Because I think I also would have wanted to gtfo. So... I wanted to try to explore Pepper's POV here.


End file.
